It has become a farcical continuum to expose, on a daily basis, the involvement of the United States in what has been happening in Syria even before the first day of the alleged “protests“ in 2011. Despite this, let us review recent events in relation to the overall US agenda in Syria.

The US alliance project began with calls for “Regime change“ in Syria and “Assad must go“ during US officials press conferences. Then it progressed to supplying the “opposition fighters“ with weapons along with logistical support. Finally it escalated into aerial bombardment allegedly against ISIS. This was interspersed by the American narratives, describing their war crimes against a sovereign nation as “unintentional“ or “by mistake“. Perhaps the most ignominious claim, was that they were defending “the forces we support“ or attacking those who were “posing threats to our forces“, as if the Syrian Arab Army & its allies had reached the coast of New York, violating the American sovereignty and unjustly and aggressively posing an existential threat to the ruling regime in Washington.

“Assad has an air force, and that air force is the cause of most of these civilian deaths. And I really believe that we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them.” ~ Hillary Clinton, just before President Trump launched Tomahawk missiles into Syrian territory.

The American aggression on the Shayrat airfields in Homs April 2017, was a covert message in several directions, initially to the Chinese president, who was meeting with the American president at the time the bombing was ordered. Then to the American people to assert the strength of “the President in the white house“ and lastly to overshadow the claims posed by both the media and the people in America about the troubles President Trump is facing over his alleged campaign links with Russia.

This ongoing investigation had put the unsteady president under an enormous pressure. The American president is not the only one surrounded with burdens and duress, he’s merely reflecting the country he is “ruling“. The United States is losing battles and control in most of the battlefields it has triggered all around the world.

The USA lost the bets on the threats aimed at North Korea and failed to respond to its “missiles provocations”. Lost in Afghanistan where US defence Secretary James Matiss said: “We are not winning the war in Afghanistan “and needless to say, the war in Afghanistan is one of the longest wars for the United States if not the longest. Lost its dominating authority over Iraq after invading and destroying almost everything there. Losing in Ukraine, losing in the South China Sea, and losing in Syria, whose army has demolished the terrorism’s siege in the east, reopened the borders with Iraq, and begun proceeding towards the besieged Deir ez-Zour.

But the United States remains the “superpower” and it is unlikely to simply admit its defeat or easily accept being the weak partner in the negotiations room. The US may not find a way out of its growing and simultaneous losses except by a larger escalation or war – perhaps limited – in one of its battlefields. Unfortunately, our region seems to be the most appropriate arena for an American escalation since it is the battlefield that will cost less than its potential losses in other arenas.

So, has preparation for this escalation begun?

The US threats of escalation and direct military intervention against the Syrian Arab Army have always been associated with the use of chemical weapons since Obama’s era when he drew the famous “red line”. Trump ridiculed Obama’s failure to implement his red line threats after the Ghouta incident in 2013, and ordered the bombing of Shayrat airbase in Syria’s Homs with dozens of rockets less than three months ago.

One of the White Helmet PR images relating to the alleged chemical weapon attacks in Khan Sheikhoun.

On the morning of June 27th 2017, “The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including “innocent children,” according to a White House statement.

“The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children. “The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack,”

The White House added that:

“As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

This statement and threats came shortly after the American writer Seymour Hersh revealed in his recent published article that American officials have denied that they “knew” Damascus has prepared a chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun which took place 3 months ago. Mr Hersh stressed that US intelligence had no evidence of a chemical attack at the time. So what makes the US administration and / or its intelligence certain there will be a chemical attack this time, even though their previous intel was clearly wrong? Of course, nothing.

The American statement seems only a green light to ignite a new chemical massacre, as was the case in the past, but all that comes in preparation for an American aggression against Syria again. This is what Frants Klintsevich, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, has warned about saying“The US is preparing a new attack on the positions of the Syrian troops, this is clear. A new cynical and unprecedented provocation is being prepared”

Klintsevich added that the new American attack will be “passed off as a chemical attack” and could be followed by a US strike. Preparations are under way, and Moscow confirms its rejection of US threats against the legitimate government in Syria and describes those threats as unacceptable. Russia still “plays by international rules and within frameworks” while the United States and its “allies” systematically violate international laws concerning non-intervention in a sovereign nation.

The American breach of the agreements with Russia in Syria was nothing more than the tip of the iceberg. The United States did not commit itself to any agreement on Syria – from agreements on ceasefires in various areas, to the de-confliction zones, to the repeated attacks on the Syrian Arab Army and its allies.

By highlighting these facts, we are not promoting, in any way, shape or form, frustration nor surrender, this is primarily a warning and an alarm concerning the evil that may come. We have no option but to resist and defend our land, history, culture and existence. As in Vietnam, our case in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine, Libya is just.

Those responsible for killing more than half a million Iraqi children, those who killed or caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Africa, Vietnam, Cuba, Libya and every corner of the world, have no right to shed crocodile tears about the fate of any child victim in Syria or elsewhere.

Especially when they are the ones who instigated their deaths and planned, long in advance, to kill them. The US killed civilians in the Syrian city of Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul and other areas using white phosphorus.

The US is not entitled to falsely claim any concerns regarding the fate of Syrian civilians.

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Yasar Abdullah is a freelance Syrian political analyst and activist, has written many articles and press reports for various media outlets including the Lebanese leading newspaper As-Safir, as well as news websites Maysaloon, Al-Monitor. @yasarabdulla

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